Press Release

The WRRC Programmme helped support the participation of VNC partners to the fourth WLUML Feminist Leadership Institute in Senegal in 2009, which was a two-week long training institute which brought together WHRDs from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and diasporas with sessions on media, human rights, rights within Islam, sexuality, and advocacy in Muslim contexts.

Since the enactment of Indonesia's pornography law No. 44 in 2008, the women’s activists coalition of South Sulawesi rejected the bill and urged the government to withdraw the law. Their legal effort - a judicial review of this pornography act - was rejected by the constitutional court.

The implementation of Islamic Sharia Qanun in Aceh has contributed to increased violence against women. This can be seen in the implementation of Islamic Sharia in Aceh that was focused on the matter of women's clothing, which also limited women's mobility, as can be seen on the case of the removal of the woman subdistrict head in the Bireun regency. Therefore, SP Aceh saw that violence against women in Aceh is directly impacted by the politicization of religion by concerned parties in Aceh.

The activities that were carried out led to the public's awareness of where the policy was implemented, which was in the villages and at the South Sulawesi province level. Overall the activity that was carried out has given an overview to the public about the series of activities that took place during the period of March to July 2009. The series of activities are as follows: